How to minimize errors in the planting operation

The Periodic Inspection of Seeders Project follows the same path taken by the sprayers project with the objective of eliminating or minimizing errors in the planting operation.

One of the most important stages within a broad context of agricultural production is sowing, as this stage involves the highest costs and the greatest technologies, hence the importance of doing it without failure or with as few errors as possible. The biggest problem with making a mistake when sowing is that there is no way to correct it, that is, a seed placed incorrectly in the soil, or not placed at all, will lead to a failure, and this will no longer be corrected in that harvest.

A common fact in rural areas is the acquisition of high-cost products that promise to provide precision services, but that do not always meet the expectations of the producer in the field. The reasons for this dissatisfaction are varied, mainly due to the use of the machine inappropriately, that is, in the case of seeders, without adequate adjustment, due to the lack of knowledge of the producer who purchased it. As a consequence, the expected result is not achieved, frustrating the producer at harvest time.

The IPS Project (Periodic Inspection of Seeders) aims to develop methodologies and make the implementation of a periodic inspection system throughout Brazil a reality. This project was launched to continue the IPP Project (Periodic Inspection of Sprayers), developed at FCA Unesp/Botucatu since the 1990s and which to this day represents one of the main organized actions to encourage the periodic inspection activity of agricultural machinery in America. Latin.

Several studies published in recent years show that the percentage of failures is still high, due to calibration errors and poor maintenance of seeders in use in Brazil, and the situation is no different in other Latin American countries. For this reason, periodic inspection is considered one of the most effective tools for reducing losses caused by these problems in the field.

The IPS Project was designed and is being developed by the Direct Planting Group (GPD) of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Unesp de Botucatu, which has worked with research and development involving planting, sowing and fertilizing machines, aiming to reduce costs, minimize energy costs and promote sustainability in agricultural production.

This research group includes undergraduate students from FCA (Agronomy, Forestry Engineering and Zootechnics), as well as master's and doctoral students from the Energy in Agriculture program and professors from the area of ​​Agricultural Machinery and Mechanization from the Department of Rural Engineering at FCA.

The main concept that supports the development of the Periodic Inspection of Seeders Project is the search for excellence in plantability, which is the performance characteristic of the seeder aimed at the correct longitudinal distribution of seeds in the field. This factor contributes to obtaining an adequate plant stand in the crop, promoting improved system performance and optimization of resources (seeds, fertilizers, fuels, labor, etc.). In short, good performance in planting is a decisive factor in the search for sustainability in agribusiness in Brazil.

To get a sense of the importance of the concept of plantability, data from companies that sell seeds indicate that in a corn crop, for every 10% increase in the Coefficient of Variation in the spacing between seeds, 1,5 bags of grain produced are lost. per hectare of planted crops.

In relation to losses, with regard to the use of seeders-fertilizers, several factors interfere in the establishment of an adequate plant stand, particularly the uniformity of seed size, the depth of deposition of seeds and fertilizers in the soil. , the machine's travel speed, the quantity of seeds and fertilizers deposited in the soil, the distance between the seeds in the sowing line, the correct pressure of the tools against the ground, among others.

The structure for inspections on seeders has a mobile unit (Ford 250 truck), which transports the equipment necessary for evaluations to rural properties.

In addition to the plantability assessment of the seeder-fertilizer, the inspection methodology is carried out using a checklist identifying the owner, property and machine; characteristics of quality, quantity, safety and technology used. Visits and inspections are already being carried out throughout the state of São Paulo and the first objective is the publication of thesis and scientific articles with the data obtained.

The IPS Project is therefore positioned as an important tool in the search for possible solutions to problems commonly encountered in the operation of precision seeders-fertilizers, contributing to the search for rationalization of the use of energy and inputs, with consequences for the sustainability of the system. of production.

Importance of avoiding small mistakes when planting

An example of a very common error, which has already been detected in many studies carried out by the GPD, is failure in sowing, that is, the inadequate quantity of seeds and fertilizers placed in the soil.

Taking the following situation as an example, we have:

Area to be cultivated: 100 hectares

Crop to be installed: corn

Value of a bag of grain: R$ 28,00 (April 2015)

Crop spacing: 0,7 meters

Linear meters in one hectare: 14.285 meters

Seeds placed per meter: 4,8 seeds

Failure: 1 seed every 5 meters of line

14.285/5 = 2.857 seeds not placed in one hectare. Imagining that each seed is a plant and each plant produces an ear with approximately 0,300kg of grain, this would give: 857,1kg, that is, 14,3 bags (60kg) less production. Transforming this into values ​​would be R$400,00 in one hectare, thus R$40.000,00 in 100 sown hectares. 

Paulo Roberto Arbex Silva, Unesp Botucatu

Article published in issue 152 of Cultivar Máquinas.